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tv   Fox 5 News at Ten  FOX  March 16, 2011 10:00pm-11:00pm EDT

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this is fox 5 news at 10:00. fox 5 is working two big stories tonight. japan in the grips of a nuclear crisis. crews are racing to prevent a meltdown at a nuclear plant while hundreds of thousands of quake and tsunami victims struggle to survive. but we begin tonight with a major shakeup in d.c. city
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hall. mayor gray's chief of staff out. thanks for joining us tonight at 10:00. i'm shawn yancy. >> i'm brian bolter. the move comes after weeks of scandals including revelations of overpaid staffers. fox 5's wisdom martin here to explain what this means for the city government. >> mayor gray said he requested and accepted the resignation of chief of staff gerri mason hall. he said they discussed the resignation over the last several days and in the end gray says the distractions with the personnel matters were overshadowing the government's work. chief of staff gerri mason hall is out. the mayor says he's known her 20 years and she is an outstanding professional but when it came down to it -- >> i think this issue around personnel eventually became a huge challenge, numerous questions about it. >> reporter: the first few is no of the gray administration have been surround -- months of the gray administration have been surrounded by controversy, the biggest, the firing of sulaimon brown.
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questions a rose over his six figure salary and if he was checked out before he was hired. brown then alleged someone on the gray campaign paid him money during the election. >> he's got too much nonsense going on and sound like people are giving him bad advice. he ran on a platform he was going to be a straight shooter and every time you turn around there's a new scandal with the guy. >> at least under fenty things were stable. there weren't this many surprises right out of the gate. so a little bit worrisome to see what's going to happen from now on. >> i don't know why they're doing so many changes so fast and it seems a little reckless and unpredictable. >> i think there are some things that occurred that we, of course, wish hadn't happened. there's some personnel decisions that were made we, of course, wish hadn't happened and ultimately i'm responsible for these thing. >> reporter: with hall out deputy mayor for public safety and justice paul cronder is now in as interim chief of staff. late this afternoon hall
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released a statement saying, "while i appreciate the mayor's support i strongly feel remaining in this decision would only cause continued distractions for the mayor and his continued administration. i refuse to let my presence be the focal point of the administration and the reason why mayor gray's progress is not getting the attention it deserves." mayor gray called hall a first class professional and human being. the mayor says there are no more firings planned as of now. he says the department of human resources director position could be filled next week. >> political analyst mark plotkin joins us now to talk about all of this, including the staff shakeup. good to see you, mark. mayor gray dumps his chief of staff. is that supposed to make all this just go away? >> i'm sure. i've known vince gray almost 45 years, went to school with him in the name of personal disclosure. i think he's far too smart and sensitive to realize that it won't make things go away.
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in fact in, my opinion unfortunately it raises more questions. reminds me, if i can make a dated reference, brian, when richard nixon dropped r.h. halderman and john ehrlichman during watergate, not comparing this to watergate, but just changing personnel does not change the situation. >> can i ask a simple question here. where is the outrage? i know you feel like this is some out this, but why aren't constituents banging down city hall doors demanding better from mayor gray and his crew here? >> i think they're giving him a decent interval. he just was inaugurated about 68 days ago and i think quite frankly they're so startled and absolutely stunned that they don't know how to react and they can't believe that all this is happening in such a short time. i mean talk about meltdown. i don't mean to compare it to japan, but that's the word that comes to mind is that the
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meltdown of credibility and confidence in government and the fact that if the republican house feels vengeful or vindictive, they start calling for the control bore again because "these people -- board again because "these people" can't run their own government. >> in your estimation has mayor gray or the council con anything of substance yet? -- done anything of substance yet? it seems like all they're doing is spending money and giving friends jobs. >> that's all we're talking about. of course, they're doing other things, but it gets so submerged that you can't talk about anything else and what i think the mayor needs to do is go on tv, speak to the public, not hide behind a lawyer telling you you can't talk because he's got to build up his own personal credibility. i thought there was a scintilla of responsible when he said the ultimate responsibility is with him. you remember the harry truman line, another dated reference,
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the buck stops here and right now all the goodwill that is usually established early in administration is kaput. >> last question for you here. vincent gray is a smart guy and i think you would be the first to say he's a policy one, but how does this turn into somebody who seems so over his head politically? >> well, he needs somebody in his office and, of course, he needs to tell the truth completely and totally without any nuances, but he also needs somebody, an individual who was picked to succeed him doesn't have a political bone in his body. he needs somebody who is in tune with the city and who has some political smarts and to make up for the lack of political smarts that the mayor has. >> mark plotkin, we could do a half hour show on this. i've got about 10 more questions for you, but i guess we'll save them for another night. thanks for coming in tonight. >> thank you. our other big story tonight, it is the race against the clock in japan to avoid a
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complete meltdown at a nuclear power plant. about an hour ago japanese army helicopters began dumping water onto a troubled nuclear eightor to help cool down those fuel lines. fox 5's laura evans is following the latest developments. >> several ominous signs have emerged and concerns are growing tonight. there is fear, confusion and many unanswered questions involving the fukushima nuclear plant. today japan's emporer made a rare speech urging his people not to give up as earthquake survivors battle for survival in japan. the problems with the fukushima nuclear plant change by the hour. a new fire on wednesday in one reactor, radioactive steam bursting from another. workers were pulled back temporarily while even more residents fled the area. >> translator: if the fuel rods are ex positivessed, the radiation -- exposed, the radiation inside the container could seep out. >> reporter: it's also making
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the people in socio150 hours away very nervous -- in tokyo 150 hours away very nervous. rush hour looked more like a sunday, the government warning people to stay inside. this woman says i'm worried about my health, my life and the radioactivity. that's why i'm wearing this mask. back to the north in the communities devastated by the quake and tsunami hundreds of thousands are crammed into shelters amid aftershocks, freezing cold and food rationing. >> i don't have gas. don't have kerosene for heat. i don't have anything at all at my home. to survive all i can do is wait no matter how long. >> reporter: no privacy, limited showers and toilets and the numbing stress of uncertainty. roads where cars once drove are now cracked and buckled, major supply lines disrupted and with the country's nuclear power plants in peril, electricity is in short supply, too, making it harder to deliver even the very basics to those in desperate need. >> my brother is missing. >> reporter: rescue crews from around the world searched
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through the massive debris while witnessing intense grief. >> obviously you can see very, very difficult conditions, chance of survival is small, but we'll do our best to see if we can get anybody in there. >> reporter: the chief of the u.s. nuclear regulatory commission said today that all the water is gone from a pool at fukushima. if that is true, it means there would be nothing to stop a potential meltdown. however, the japanese are saying tonight that that is just not true. either way u.s. officials are recommending anyone within 50 miles of the nuclear plant evacuate now. shawn. >> laura evans, thank you. dr. timothy jorgenson, chair of the radiation safety committee at georgetown university medical center joins us tonight. thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> let's begin with the human impact. the japanese government is ordering people not to come within a 12-mile radius of that plant. the u.s. is urging americans to stay at least 50 miles from that damaged reactor. what is the risk to the people of japan in the 50-mile radius
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and even those further away say in tokyo? >> i think the immediate risk to the people is that one of these nuclear power plants will have a meltdown and there will be a large emission of radioactivity and i think the risk depends exactly on the weather conditions at the time. so if the weather conditions blow this radioactivity over these people, it has some risk. so the further away from it you are, the better off you are, the less likely this is going to happen to you. so in general the further, the better. that's the situation. >> let's talk about the folks who are right there. there's 50 brave workers who vowed to stay at plant to try and avert the meltdown. what is the risk ti think they radiation sickness. in fact, i heard many the media the japanese government is considering asking some of these people to do tasks that would involve lethal doses of radiation. so the consequences of these lethal doses won't be seen for days or weeks. so it is possible for a person to sustain a lethal dose and
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still keep working for days or weeks. so basically if that's what they're being asked to do, they are true heros of the situation. >> indeed they are. as we look back over history of other nuclear disasters, how did this compare to say three mile island and also chernobyl? >> the international atomic energy agency ranks these things on a scale of 1 to 7, 7 the highest, and chernobyl was a 7. three mile island was a 5. so this is now a 6, somewhere in between three mile island and chernobyl. >> the situation in japan is still unfolding now. we don't know what the final outcome will be, but based on the other two incidents we just spoke of, what do you think we are looking at if you could look into your crystal ball? >> the reality is the risk to these people is a risk that most likely they will incur, if anything, an elevated radiation dose which puts them at risk for cancer down the line, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, but the real thing is that these
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people have immediate problems of dealing with the catastrophe of the tsunami and the earthquake and they have exposure issues and medical issues and all those things. i think this is the real priority. yes, they have a risk of getting cancer in 10 or 20 years, but what needs to be remembered is we need workers in there to work and save these people and disregard a potential risk because the need is so great. >> indeed it is. dr. timothy jorgenson, chair of the radiation safety committee at georgetown medical center. thanks for coming in town. a local search and rescue team on the ground in japan is still looking for survivors tonight. we have video of their work in the quake zone and the conditions they are up against. also japan's nuclear crisis havers one taking a closer look at the -- have everyone taking a closer look at the safety of nuclear energy. when we first heard about a robbery last december, metro
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downplayed it. now we're hearing the real story, several people held up at gunpoint. we'll show you how it all went down next.  ♪ 
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we are monitoring metro tonight showing you for the first time surveillance video of several armed robbery suspect running from an orange line train at the minnesota avenue station. that's them on the left side of the screen. witnesses say it was terrifying, but a metro spokesman first told us there wasn't much to it and the two young suspects were quickly arrested. fox 5's bob barnard is live in our web center with more on the video and rider reaction. >> nearly three months after the fact we finally get to see what happened along the orange line in the district one night last december. the aftermath a of the crime was captured -- aftermath of the crime was captured on surveillance cameras. >> reporter: one witness told the crime several masked gunmen robbed passengers of their wallets, ipods, cell phones and shoes ordering some of them to the floor, then kicking them. as the suspects run from the train one appears to drop something. was it his gun? he struggles to pick it up.
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then instead of taking off appears to threaten another rider as an adult and child walk nearby. as two of the other suspects leave the station, they sucker punch a guy. >> it's very scary that we don't have the protection on the train and it's very scary that people pick that opportune time to do things on the train when they see no one is there watching. >> reporter: metro says that december crime happened on a train between the minnesota avenue and stadium armory stations. >> i see a lot of kids up to no good stealing ipods, cell phones. see my phone, my phone is hi- tech, something that people would take from me. >> reporter: when this incident happened back in december, metro officials told us it was nothing like what witnesses described, but now they've handed over the video, forced to by the city paper. some of its customers say for metro to have downplayed this brazen crime at the time is equally upsetting. >> i think that's just indicative of the problems that are going on with metro, right? so we as customers feel the
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price hikes. we feel the effect of crime and metro seems to not be doing anything to ameliorate that to make it any better. >> reporter: we did see a couple transit police officers outside the minnesota avenue station this afternoon, but metro riders consistently tell us they wish they'd see more police on the trains. >> this is very important to know that you're safe and that you don't have to worry about getting mugged or beat up, you know, on a train trying to get to work or trying to get home. >> riders calling for more police while metro is trying to fund its budget. we asked for a comment on camera, but a metro spoke person told us they were not -- spokesperson told us they were not talking. you can always help us monitor metro. take a picture or video if you see something that seems out of place and send it to us at fox 5 metro at gmail.com. a montgomery county police officer on the wrong side of the law. 37-year-old dolores culmer is facing charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and fraud in
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connection with computer use. according to court documents, culmer was engaged to a drug dealer. she's accused of running computer checks on people who did business with her fiancee. people say it's a black mark on the whole community. police do. >> it's shocking. it's hurtful. we have a department of about 1,600 people and, of course, all of them are affected. so is the community. >> culmer was a patrol officer in the wheaton area, has been on the department since 2003. her police powers have been removed and the department is completing paperwork to place her on unpaid leave. there is still no arrests in the brutal attack on two women inside a bethesda clothing store. paul wagner, you've been following this story. what's the latest today? >> a couple things. the reward has grown to over $142,000, the largest reward ever offered for a murder in font montgomery county. the other thing is we heard
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police had actually asked one man for his dna and they tracked down this man and we talked to him today as well. he told us that he was in an altercation and the police have collected his clothing and asked for his dna. he has given up his dna voluntarily but he said he had nothing to do with the murder, that he's cooperating with the police. we found out about this man through our own sources in working this case. police had said that they would ask for dna from people as they go along through this investigation and we have learned about this one individual that has already been asked for his dna. we have also talked to paul starks today. he is the captain in charge of public information office and we asked him basically what police detectives were dealing with so far, what kind of volume of information and how were they working with this. >> it's a lot of work in this case. the public has been helpful. we still need to hear from them. we've interviewed some folks and we may go back and
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reinterview some people. we've also conducted a canvas of this convertible -- canvass of this commercial area to see what videotape may help us in this investigation. those are a lot of sources and material for detectives to sift through. >> also we learned today funeral arrangements have been set for jayna murray. she is from houston and will be laid to rest in the woodlands which is just outside houston. that's visitation on friday, the funeral saturday. there's also going to be a vigil friday night. there's a store in bethesda that's going to take on a vigil. they'll intake people over there. they'll begin their there with remembrances of jay that and then they'll walk -- jayna and then they'll walk over to lululemon and celebrate her life. >> hopefully someone is watching and that reward money will prompt someone to come forward so they can solve this
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case. >> $142,000. the search is on tonight for two missing girls from montgomery county. 15-year-old katelyn cavasiet and a 15-year-old girl were seen later that night in the white oak area of silver spring but never came home. anyone with information on their whereabouts is urged to call police. a local charity now has ties to the british royal wedding. it's one of the groups chosen by prince william and kate middleton for a special honor, but it almost didn't happen. a founding member tells us the story next. 
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the royal wedding will likely draw unprecedented attention around a the world, but why do you get the -- around the world, but what do you get the couple that has everything? will thomas is here to answer that. >> i guess when you're rich and royal, you don't need to register for your gifts. so the royal couple is saying give charitable donations and
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the couple selected 26 charities. >> one of those charities started by two local brothers we've been talking about tonight. >> a couple local brothers. they attended and played basketball at gonzaga, then in college and internationally and this is where they got the idea of pairing basketball to create peace. here's their story. the wedding excitement is sweeping the world, but let's face it. the prince and his bride don't need gravy boats, blenders and toasters. so they've become britain's first royal couple to request donations to charities instead of presents. using basketball to unite protestant and catholic kids in conflict ridden belfast, that's the mission behind peace players international. it's among 26 charities selected by the royal couple to receive donations. washington d.c. native brendan tui and his brother shawn founded peace players and
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operated from borrowed office space in a downtown law firm. >> when they're reviewing some of the candidates, when they heard about peace players and what we, did they said this has to be part of it. they believe in kids. so our work using basketball to unite protestant and catholic kids in belfast, i think it just immediately hit them just like i think it hits a lot of people. it makes sense. >> reporter: the tui brothers played high school and college hoops and eventually on the international scene in ireland. that's where the idea of peace and basketball was born. >> you bring kids together from opposite sides of conflict. you give them a ball and mix them up and you say win, compete. who they are supposed to like or not like disappears. >> reporter: no one knows what kind of donations will be made on behalf of the royal couple. so the charities don't know what to expect financially. peace players is already seeing the benefits. >> the royal factor helps us get our name out there in lots of places that we could never have got our name out before.
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>> reporter: peace players international is also operating chapters in israel, south africa and cypress. >> these guys, obviously a tremendous charity, but they almost missed out on this whole deal. >> i'm going to see if i can get this right. apparently the head of the royal couple's foundation called the belfast chapter and while that call was happening dogs were barking behind and so the head of the charity almost hung up phone and said this has got to be a crank call. turns out they were the queen's dogs, the corgis. go figure. fortunately they did not hang up the phone. >> we posted links on www.myfoxdc.com if you're interested. after disaster hit japan we showed you the fairfax county search and rescue team leading out to help. tonight we are taking you with them into the quake zone to see the team in action and the challenges they're facing as they search for survivors next.
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tonight we are getting a
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firsthand look at the fairfax urban search and rescue team in action in quake ravaged japan. the u.s. navy shared with us the video you're about to see. it shows how a local team does during their first mission. fox 5's tom fitzgerald has the story. >> reporter: the video starts with a landscape of destruction. this is what is left of afinado city of japan's northeastern coast and is where fairfax county's urban search and rescue team has come to help. the team finds themselves encircled in rubble, cars and houses destroyed, boats left on land and roof tops. fairfax lieutenant rex strickland coordinates with crews as they head out to look for signs of life. inside houses like this one they get to work.
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amid the rubble they begin the search. >> i got a pretty good view at this point here. >> reporter: from room to room the fairfax team members make their way around what was once a home. >> let's see if we can get upstairs. >> reporter: but now is a jigsaw puzzle of a building they are trying to figure out. >> there appears to be a bedroom behind this. >> reporter: moving forward is difficult as they try to navigate the maze of wires and debris. >> watch your head. this is attached. it's all attached. >> reporter: after an exhaustive search fairfax team members can declare the building empty. the final step, a spray painted code indicating the fairfax team has cleared the building even though the memories of its owners remains. we are told the fairfax county urban search and rescue team completed its mission in the city as well as a search in another town but found no survivors. the team has since returned to its base of operations and is
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awaiting its next assignment. tom fitzgerald, fox 5 news. radiation in japan, concern of that drifting to the united states is now prompting people to buy up potassium iodide. it's a drug that helps the thyroid deal with radiation. experts say it's not necessary for us in america. incidents like this nuclear crisis in japan very rare but they do make you wonder about the safety of nuclear energy. want to bring in the president of friends of earth, eric peca, and amy roma, nuclear expert for clean energy america. thank you both for coming in. amy, public relationship this has to be setting your industry back decades. people are not going forget what we're seeing right now. >> i think what's important is what remains to be seen is the long term events of this impact will be. >> what does that mean, wait 10, 20 years for cancer cases to pop up? >> no. we need to determine what the offsite consequences of this event may be and now they're
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still relatively small. as early as 9:30 this evening the indications were that at the gates of the nuclear power plant, it was at a 75millirims which is a still relatively small amount for offsite consequences. >> eric, even the worst nuclear disaster this country has ever seen three mile island, which talking about the rims, that was between i think 10 and 100 at the most, almost everyone agrees there were no long term health effects. so what do you see as the problem here? >> i think there's multiple problems with both the reactors melting down in japan as well as the future of nuclear reactors in the united states. first there's always the safety. these are huge machines that have lots of radioactive materials contained within them. we're seeing the melting down in japan now. in the united states we have spent fuel pool rods that are in 104 reactors around the country stored the same way as they are stored in japan right
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now. we actually see this aging nuclear fleet that's in the united states and oyster creek and vermont yankee and crystal river and palisades, michigan, they're leaking tridium into the groundwater. >> i know it's sort of unfair, but if you take chernobyl out of it, which is very difficult i know to do, what other problems are there? am i right, amy? >> i entirely agree with you. if you go back to the discussion about three mile island, not only were there no fatalities, there were no significant offsite consequences from that event as well. we have 104 operating nuclear power plants in the united states that have operated safely the last 40 years. it's the most heavily regulated industry in the world and has continued to demonstrate its safety in the last 40 years. >> is it even possible, though, amy, for the nuclear industry to convince the public, a skeptical public with big words like nuclear and meltdown and radioactivity, is it even possible to convince the public that it's as safe as you think it is? >> i think what's important is that the public has access to
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correct information. a lot of the media reports that are out there now continue to disseminate inaccurate information. so if the public is trying to educate themselves, they should go to resources like the nuclear regulatory commission, the international atomic energy commission, the japanese regulatory commission and not just listen to information being repeated that's inaccurate from other media outlets. >> eric, give you the last word here. what's better, wind energy? >> absolutely. we have to invest in this country in wind and renewables, solar. we have to do energy efficiency. there's no reason why we should be building these nuclear reactors in the united states. we have the technology we can deploy right now. >> eric pekin, and amy row marks thank you both, good -- roma, thank you both. good conversation. up next a surprising announcement from secretary of state hillary clinton, plus a d.c. republican office targeted. someone shot at the windows and that's not the only building that was hit. a bad sign for the housing
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market and a u.s. airport is still the world's busiest. neil cavuto has the details in the business report. >> another nuclear scare in japan and price spikes in the u.s. scaring investors in the u.s., the dow tumbling another 242 points today now down more than 3% since that japanese quake hit. more american companies are helping out, though, wal-mart sending $5 million worth of cash and supplies to quake victims. the world's largest retailer has more than 400 stores in japan. spiking gas prices pushing energy costs up more than 3% last month, a new sign housing isn't rebounding either, new home construction plunging to its lowest level in nearly a year and it could get worse. the number of building permits issued for future projects hit a record low. atlanta's heart sell airport holding onto -- hartsell holding onto its record as the world's busiest airport.
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that's business. i'm neil cavuto. 
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secretary of state hillary clinton is leaving her post in 2012 regardless of who's president. she told reporters in cairo today she's not interested in being president, vice president or defense secretary either. current secretary of defense robert gates has long planned to leave his position in the next term as well. secretary clinton said she'll do her best for the next two years and then move on. vandals targeted a republican committee office in the district. the executive director tells police someone shot out the windows of the gop's storefront office possibly with an air gun overnight near 13th and k streets northwest. they found a bb outside on the ground. workers believe the shooting
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was politically motivated. >> our staff left around 7:00 last night. we came in this morning and essentially we saw windows that were shattered as you can see behind me. every panel is shattered. it seems pretty deliberate. our neighbors next-door to us luckily weren't targeted, but every one of our panels are damaged. >> madame tussauds wax museum windows also had damage. hundreds of people worried about a growing anti-union sentiment. tonight wisconsin's union fight lands solidly but closely there on the streets of our city. we're taking you into the middle of this protest coming up. netflix wants to expand its service, find out how the movie rental company is looking into offering up its own programming.
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a nightmare, that's how a lot of people are describing getting through airport security these days. now after a year long study one
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group based here in d.c. is calling on congress to make changes. as fox 5's beth parker shows us, whether participate could be up to you. >> reporter: hands up and some passengers say hassle and humiliation are up, too. >> i don't feel any safer or any more danger than i ever did before. i feel more violated and more of my time taken up from all the different checkpoints. >> reporter: but it's the price you pay to get on an airplane. >> it seems like every time there's a new threat then they throw another layer on top of it. it makes it very difficult to just get through. your goal is to get to your destination, not to be strip searched. >> reporter: jeff freeman of the u.s. travel soccer says we've got to get better -- association says we've got to get better at weeding out the small number of passengers who will cause trouble. the u.s. travel association put together a blue ribbon panel that includes former homeland security director tom ridge. >> we haven't taken that look over the past 10 years.
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this is the first attempt to do so and our hope is it stirs real debate on capitol hill. >> reporter: among the idea, trusted traveler plan, let people volunteer information to prove they're not a risk and give them speedy security in return. with a trusted traveler program a lot of your personal information appears in one place, for example, your social security number, your mother's maiden name, a fingerprint, even a scan of your retina and security experts say it's an invitation for that information to disappear into the wrong hands. >> it's absolutely terrifying because these sorts of profiles are genuinely an identity theft tool kit. >> reporter: some tell us the risk is worth it to speed up the trip through security. >> i do trust the tsa. that's all we got. >> reporter: freeman says faster security could also speed up the economy by putting more travelers in the air. >> they don't just get on the plane. they stay in a hotel, rent a car, go to the local dry cleaner to get the wrinkles
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out, go to the drugstore to pick up things forgot at home. consumer spending is critical to turning our economy around and that begins with air travel. >> reporter: beth parker, fox 5 news. >> ultimately congress has to decide on any changes to the security system. we certainly had our share of the lion, so it's, what the lamb's turn now? >> bring on the lamb. end of the week looks really nice. weekend gets cooler, but the next couple days we've got a nice warm-up coming and we ease up gradually tomorrow, but i think it will be a nice notable warm-up from today. today we got up to 56 degrees and got our rain over with early this morning. now there's a few clouds hanging around and a bit of a breeze in some spots, but it's preventing the temperature from falling too quickly. we're still at 53 degrees at 10:00, doesn't look like it's going to be terribly cold overnight. if the clouds break up enough in the next several hours, perhaps we'll see 30s in the suburbs, but hey, bring it on. st. patrick's day begins in a
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short while and it's going to be sunny, mild. in the mid-60s, quite a jump up from today, maybe by some 10 degrees for a lot of you. enjoy it. warmer temperatures are in the forecast, a taste of spring fever just in time for actual spring which begins sunday. that's when the temperatures will drop a bit. tomorrow we're going for 64 degrees. how about friday at 75 and would not be surprised if some areas south of d.c. touch 80 degrees, but a lot will depend on a front that's going to cross in the friday night, saturday time frame. that will drop our temperature back to 63 saturday, maybe a couple showers as well. sunday back to 58 degrees for the first day of spring. i think you'll agree that's a pretty decent run. believe it or not, on february 18th, we got up to 77 degrees. that's the kind of weather we may be challenging on friday. today's temperature 56 degrees. we didn't hit ha until 6:00 this evening, 50 -- that until 6:00 this evening, 58 at
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dulles, 59 baltimore. a bit of a breeze in the cloud deck keeping things a bit warmer. as we go through the overnight hours, that may change a bit. even at this hour there's plenty of mild air and this will be available to be tapped and pulled in our direction from an area of high pressure that will be slipping off the coast. for tonight we'll have a little bit of cloud cover around. that may break up later and as it does we could see some 30s in the suburbs, but i bet the coolest we get in the district is 42, a little bit of a breeze now. that should also settle down in the next several hours. we saturday on a sunny note st. patrick's day, 46 degrees. take your sunglasses, by noon 58 degrees and by 5:00 mild at 63 degrees. speaking of mild, we know tomorrow will be on the warm side, in the 60s, very comfortable, but 70s will be just to our south and that is going to come racing in here for friday. got to talk about friday because yes, we'll have the 70s with 80s to our south, but
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there will be a front lurking just through the great lakes and also be on the move. let's check out futurecast because it's suggesting there could be a couple showers with this. let's get the timing down. nothing to worry about tomorrow. st. pat's day is sunny, mild and dry. here comes that front. i think you can see it on the move. friday should be very warm, but if this front gets close enough, it could cap temperatures in the northern suburbs maybe closer to the lower 70s, even so still a bargain. that front will swing through friday night into saturday and notice now some showers beginning to show up for the first part of saturday. we don't think they'll last all day, but late friday into early saturday now it's looking like there may be a shower as this frontal system passes through. it will be somewhat cooler air saturday. clouds will break up and the showers should diminish quite a bit. your five-day forecast shows the spike in temperatures on friday and then a little cooler for saturday with those morning showers possible now as our front slips on through. not bad for sunday, first day of spring, 58 degrees. we keep the cool stuff going
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monday at 58. i would tell you next week looks a lot more like april with intermittent showers. we need that to get things green enough, doesn't look like tons of rain but a little unsettled. >> thank you, sue. first lady michelle obama had a lot of helping hand today it replanting her garden on the south lawn -- today replanting her garden on the south lawn of the white house. a few local students joined in the fun. their garden will yield broccoli, spinach, radishes, cauliflower and a whole lot of other goodies. mrs. obama also used today to teach the children about her program, childhood obesity. >> let's move to make sure you guys are getting off to a healthy start, but it's not just about planting good vegetables. it's about passing the information on. you guys are lucky enough to be here. >> the first lady is also writing a book about the garden and the benefits of healthy eating. it will be out next year. coming up next have you noticed how expensive grocery
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shopping has gotten in the last few months? we'll have the reasons behind the rising food prices and when we might see some relief. today's five-day forecast is brought to you by your local dodge, jeep and chrysler dealers. ftl ckkewake b
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long lines for the ipad 2 at pentagon city's apple store today. more than 100 people locked out on the brand-new gizmo yesterday because the store sold out. today they went back hoping the new shipment would come. in people showed up three hours early just to get their hand on a new ipad. buying online won't help either. there is a three to four week wait that way. have you noticed the spike in prices at the grocery store? the cost of food shot up last month to the highest it's been in nearly 37 years. fox's james rosen explains why. >> reporter: new figures from the labor department show food
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prices shot up by 3.9% last month, the largest monthly spike since gerald ford was president. prime factors included surges in the cost of vegetables almost 50% and meat and dairy products driving up food costs being surges in energy prices, specifically gas prices which rose by almost 4%. >> food market increases have an across the board impact. there are over a billion people living below the extreme poverty line and shocks in food prices are an important factor which push more people into poverty. >> reporter: in a report last month the world bank noted sharp increases in global prices for wheat, maize and sugar over the previous six months with an accompanying rice in the price of rice, albeit smaller. over the last quarter of 2010 the food price index surged 6%, the largest increase since 2008. that year saw food riots, but economists say it's not as bad
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as three and four years ago. >> in case of white we have a stock of -- wheat we have a stock of over 50 million metric tons more than in 2007 and 2008. >> reporter: although japan's experts are right and the chain of disasters could affect that country's supply, economists expect the troubles to result in lower oil prices as the citizens in the third largest economy consume less gasoline and electricity. >> as houses and cars have been destroyed people will use less energy. industrial output will probably decline. northern japan has quite a bit of industrial activity. you'll just see a sort of softening of demand from that perspective. >> reporter: economists contacted by fox news urged president obama not to overreact to the rise in food prices by imposing export bans on u.s. agricultural products or by placing other obstructions to the market. in washington james rosen, fox news. the news keeps coming. here's brian now with the news edge at 11:00.

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